On March 20th, 2003, President George W. Bush announced to the public that American forces would take part in a war against Iraq and their president at the time, Saddam Hussein. The next month, Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, had fallen to the Americans and although this seemed like a victory for the patriots, there were harsh consequences from the bombings on the capital city that had nothing to do with the war between Iraq and the United States. The environment and the wildlife have become innocent casualties to the modern-day human warfare that has plagued the once prosperous ‘land between two rivers’. The graphic novel, “Pride of Baghdad” written by Brian K. Vaughn and illustrated by Niko Henrichon reflects on the bombings of Baghdad from the point of view of characters who not only had nothing to do with the war but also did not even know it was happening. The main characters in the book were all animals, most of whom had been kept in captivity at a local zoo in Baghdad. During an American airstrike attack on the city, the zoo’s infrastructure was …show more content…
invasion of Baghdad in 2003 and “Pride of Baghdad” frowns down upon the war by painting out vivid pictures of the causalities of war. One of the most vivid pictures was the page where the turtle’s family is drowning in excess oil that was spilled into the Tigris River from war waste on both the U.S. and Iraq sides. Setting is everything in this graphic novel and all of the major points that the author and illustrator are trying to make are relating to the reality of the war that was happening in the Middle East. The goal of “Pride of Baghdad” is to decrease public support of the war because if fighting continues, the conditions of the country will only get worse. The Tigris River is already in unstable conditions and it will take a great deal of effort to return the water way to the formal glory that it